To say that Yahoo is struggling is an understatement. The internet search giant is a shell of what it was in its heyday and things are only getting worse. Many believe that the only way for Yahoo to save itself at this point is to sell to another company.

A new name has entered into the rumors of firms looking to buy Yahoo and that is the Alibaba Group. CEO of Alibaba Jack Ma has said that he would be interested in buying Yahoo.

A spokesperson for Alibaba has confirmed that Ma did say he would like to buy Yahoo, but Yahoo has offered no comment on the statement. However, with Yahoo ailing so badly the talk of a selloff has sent the Yahoo stock up 3% in trading.

Yahoo and Alibaba have been working together and Yahoo owns 40% of Alibaba. The purchase would allow Ma to regain control of his own company and take Yahoo's other assets as well.

Carol Bartz, who was recently ousted from her CEO position, and Ma had a public disagreement previously about the Alipay payment service. Yahoo's full stake in Alipay was later shifted to a new entity controlled by Ma giving him full control over it.

CNN reports that many investors had bought into Yahoo on the hopes that it would make money off the Alipay deal, and the moving of it back to Ma's control sent stock prices sliding in May.

Microsoft has also offered to buy Yahoo in the past with an offer of over $47 billion in 2008, Microsoft is also expected to be bidding from Yahoo again if the search giant goes up for sale.